Mark Strama

This will be Austin Rep. Mark Strama’s last session in the Texas House. The democrat announced Wednesday he will not seek reelection and he has not yet decided if he will run for mayor.

Strama was first elected to the legislature in 2004. On his blog, Strama says he decided before the start of the legislative session that this would be his last.

Capital Tonight first reported that Strama was mulling a city hall bid during the Democratic National Convention in September. In a later interview, Strama expressed frustration at being a Democrat in a Republican dominated legislature. “If cities are the place that are getting things done, that makes city government a lot more interesting,” he said.

Strama says he realizes making the announcement this early puts him at risk of being a lame-duck representative, but he wants to give people interested in running for his seat as much time to prepare as possible.

As far as his future aspirations: Strama isn’t giving anything away, just yet. In a statement on his blog today, he said

“I know you’re all assuming this means I’m running for mayor of Austin. It doesn’t. I still haven’t decided, and don’t intend to decide until after session is over. I’m very focused on getting the most out of my remaining time as a member of the House. I am thinking about running for mayor, but I’m also thinking about a lot of cool things I could do in the private sector once I’m freed up full time again. I’ve done a lot of work on renewable energy and on education technology, and both are areas where I believe I might have a greater impact through private entrepreneurship than I’m able to have in government.”

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